Published Apr 10, 2025 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 6 minute readClimate crisis protesters stage a ‘die-in’ in front of Nova Scotia Power headquarters in Halifax on Sept. 27, 2019. Photo by Francis Campbell /The Chronicle HeraldSeveral years have passed since hundreds of thousands of Canadians flooded the streets of Halifax, Montreal and Ottawa to demand climate change action.That momentum for climate change action seemed to peak in 2019 before being sidetracked and curtailed by more than two years of the worldwide COVID pandemic.Recent federal election polls suggest environmental and biodiversity issues may not resonate with voters as they had in the past.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.Subscribe now to access this story and more:Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsSUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES.Subscribe or sign in to your account to continue your reading experience.Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsRegister to unlock more articles.Create an account or sign in to continue your reading experience.Access additional stories every monthShare your thoughts and join the conversation in our commenting communityGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorArticle content“I don’t think polls mean that people don’t have deep levels of (climate change) anxiety that are near the surface,” said Elizabeth May, an environmentalist, author, lawyer and British Columbia MP who is co-leader of the Green Party of Canada. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May speaks with reporters in the West Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in September 2024. Photo by Bryan Passifiume – Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network“The chaos unleashed to global economic projections by Trump’s inexplicably bizarre disruption of the global economic order and climate commitments are absolutely like having a bad accident on the other side of the highway,” said May, who was born in Connecticut but moved to Margaree Harbour as a teen with her family and graduated from Dalhousie University law school in 1983.“People are rubbernecking and it takes your mind off what’s right in front of you,” she said.Environmental concerns down?A Narrative Research poll that surveyed 1,231 adult Canadians from March 13-16, just before the federal election call, found that 67 per cent of respondents tagged the cost of living as one of the most important issues facing Canada, followed by 53 per cent who identified the trade war and tariffs.Article contentOnly 13 per cent rated protecting the environment as important, down from 33 per cent in September 2021.In a poll of 2,000 Canadians conducted by Abacus Data from March 20-25, only three per cent of respondents identified climate change as the biggest issue affecting their vote. The cost of living and affordability ranked first (34 per cent), followed by the impact of Donald Trump on Canada (19 per cent).However, a Leger poll commissioned by the David Suzuki Foundation, found different results when asking 1,548 Canadians to respond to more direct environmental questions in a March 7-10 survey.More than two-thirds (67 per cent) agreed that the next Canadian government should make climate action and protecting nature a high priority, 65 per cent of respondents agreed that Canada should invest in renewable energy instead of fossil fuel developments and 62 per cent agreed that Canada should maintain its climate commitments despite decisions of the United States administration that include a withdrawal from the UN Paris Climate Agreement.Article contentGlobal emergencies aplenty“We have been for some time in a poly-crisis world,” May said. “We have to be able to handle significant global emergencies that are happening at the same time.”May said that when the pandemic started, someone commented to author Margaret Atwood that climate issues were pushed to the backburner because of the health crisis.“She said, ‘I don’t know about you, but my stove has two front burners,’” May said. May said Canada is being significantly walloped, “like being hit by a two-by-four: climate crisis, then pandemic, then Putin invades Ukraine, then Trump gets in the White House and starts unleashing economic chaos in all directions.”May said it requires politicians and Canadians to be focused and to remain calm. Students march from Peace and Friendship Park in Halifax as they take part in a global climate strike rally in 2024. – Ryan Taplin“We have to take all these things on all at once, we don’t have the luxury of saying, ‘We’ll have to get to climate change later because the X situation is more pressing,’” she said.Article content“We can’t abandon Zelensky and Ukraine because Trump is punishing us economically any more than we can abandon the required steps that must be taken to ensure a livable world for our kids and grandkids in terms of climate crisis.”May said the multiple focus is not easy but it is doable by calmly “assembling the evidence and choosing solutions that, wherever possible, address more than one crisis at a time.”Canada is grappling with crises in housing, opioid abuse, climate, affordability, many of which are intertwined but all of which need to be addressed, she said.“It takes steely resolve and good leadership, and that’s where Greens come in.”‘The climate doesn’t care’Raymond Plourde, a longtime member of the Ecology Action Centre in Nova Scotia who advocates for protection of natural areas in the province, for improving land-use practices and the benefits of conserving biodiversity, said the shifting polling numbers for priorities among the voting public is understandable because of the way the survey questions are asked.Article content“There are some things that were not as dire or existed at all four years ago, in 2021, that do exist now and they are top of mind and people are justifiably really concerned,” Plourde said, alluding to, among other factors, Trump’s economic, defence and climate policies.“The climate doesn’t care if we have political instability or a stock market meltdown or a global tariff war, the climate just keeps receiving the pollution, the greenhouse gases that are warming our planet, and I think most Canadians are aware that hasn’t stopped, it’s not going away, it is the existential crisis of our time.”Plourde said that while a percentage of Canadians might say the environment is not an issue, “still, as you see in the Leger polling, close to 70 per cent, a significant majority, thinks that Canada needs to stay the course and meet its commitments for things like climate action and protecting nature to save life on Earth.“We can’t let that slide into some forgotten pile of busy work when it is ultimately an existential crisis that has direct implications for us, for our immediate and future descendants, and for every living creature on the planet.”Article contentCarney, Poilievre, Singh on climateOn the campaign trail, the Mark Carney-led Liberals promised this week to conserve nature and diversity by creating at least 10 new national parks and marine conservation areas, make access to national parks and historic sites free this summer, to clean up, maintain and protect wildlife in and around Canadian coastal waters, to protect fresh water with a $100-million water security technology fund and to enshrine First Nations water rights into law.After scrapping the consumer portion of carbon taxing, the Liberals promise to introduce incentives to help families invest in clean energy, including reinstating the zero-emissions vehicle subsidy program. The Liberals would tighten the output-based pricing system for large industrial emitters and are open to building pipelines and speeding up energy projects, allowing for a Quebec veto of any pipeline on its territory.The Liberals also promise to phase out the use of fossil fuels in government buildings by 2030. Article contentThe Conservatives under leader Pierre Poilievre promise to get rid of carbon pricing altogether, including pricing on industrial emitters. Instead, they would provide expanded tax credits to incentivize businesses to reduce emissions and to promote clean energy technologies.The Conservatives support an east-west pipeline and would approve projects like LNG Quebec. The party is open to exporting oil from the Port of Churchill and has pledged to speed up development of the port.The NDP would maintain industrial carbon pricing and tax imports from countries that don’t have comparable carbon pricing. The NDP, under leader Jagmeet Singh, would cut $18 billion in unspecified oil and gas subsidies. The party also opposes building an LNG pipeline in Quebec and believes the province should have the right to veto energy projects on its territory. The party would prioritize the creation of an east-west electricity grid. The NDP would continue the 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles, rebate Canadian families and businesses $10,000 for buying or leasing over 12 months a Canadian-manufactured zero-emissions vehicle and $5,000 for buying or leasing a zero-emissions vehicle manufactured elsewhere.May’s Green party promises to invest in an east-west national electric grid and respect Quebec’s opposition to pipelines.It would remove barriers to inter-provincial energy trade, and it would stop providing public money to oil and gas companies and invest it in clean energy instead. It would cancel all new fossil fuel projects. Article content
Climate change part of Canada’s ‘poly-crisis’ election landscape, May says
